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Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Exchange 2007 SP1 Beta around the corner ?

Microsoft has RTW'ed the Readme file for the Exchange Server 2007 SP1 Beta. There are many changes, but the most interesting (IMHO) are the integration between Office Communicator Server 2007 and Exchange 2007 SP1 and the enhancements to "standalone" UM. Following is a list of changes from the readme file (All changes but not all details) -

Exchange ActiveSyncCAS-CAS ProxyingExchange Server 2007 SP1 Beta 1 continues to support CAS-CAS proxying for Exchange ActiveSync. The CAS-CAS proxying feature enables you to publish a single, external URL for your Exchange organization. When this feature is used, all Exchange ActiveSync client requests go through the single, external URL and are proxied to the Client Access server that is located in the same Active Directory site as their mailbox. After you install Exchange Server 2007 SP1 Beta 1 on a computer that is running the Client Access server role, a new virtual directory named EAS is created. This new virtual directory was added for future Exchange ActiveSync devices to benefit from the bandwidth optimizations that were added in Exchange 2007 SP1.Remote Wipe Confirmation ExchangeActiveSync for Exchange 2007 enables administrators and end users to send a remote wipe command to a mobile device. Administrators can issue the command from the Exchange Management Console or the Exchange Management Shell. Users can issue the command from within Outlook Web Access. Exchange 2007 SP1 Beta 1 introduces a remote wipe confirmation for both the user and the administrator.Exchange ActiveSync Default Policy Exchange 2007 SP1 Beta 1 introduces a default Exchange ActiveSync mailbox policy. Administrators can define a default policy and apply it to all users who do not already have a policy applied. After a default policy is created, any new mailboxes that are created will automatically have the default policy applied.

Unified Messaging FeaturesUnified Messaging has been improved in Exchange Server 2007 SP1 Beta 1. To use most of these features, you must correctly deploy Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 in your environment. Specifically, to use these features, you must meet the following requirements:

The following is a summary of the Unified Messaging features that are available in an integrated Exchange Server 2007 SP1 Beta 1 and Office Communications Server 2007 Public Beta environment:

Support for additional types of UM dial plansTo interoperate with Office Communications Server 2007, Exchange 2007 SP1 Beta1 Unified Messaging supports the following additional types of UM dial plans: Sip_Name and E164. You can configure these UM dial plans by using the Exchange Management Shell and also by using the Exchange Management Console. The Exchange Management Console also enables you to create Sip_Name and E164-type UM dial plans by using the New Dial Plan Wizard and to supply Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs) when you enable users for SIP_Name UM dial plans.Additional logic for resolving internal calling numbers The scope of internal calling number resolution is significantly increased. The original release version of Exchange 2007 resolves internal extension numbers against only two sources. These sources are the extension numbers for other UM-enabled users in the same UM dial plan as the user who is being called and the contact list of the user who is being called. In addition to these two sources, Unified Messaging in Exchange 2007 SP1 Beta1 resolves internal extension numbers against all users in the Active Directory forest.

Support for recording high-fidelity voice messages in Exchange Unified MessagingSupport for high-fidelity sound is added when Exchange 2007 SP1 Beta 1 is used with Office Communications Server 2007. This feature is available when a voice call is initiated by using Office Communicator 2007 and the recipient of the voice call plays the message by using Outlook 2007 or Outlook Web Access 2007. In particular, the following two scenarios support the high-fidelity recording and playback feature: Scenario 1 If a Unified Messaging server answers a call on behalf of a subscriber and either of the following is true:

The subscriber's audio codec setting (UMMailbox.CallAnsweringCodec) is set to WMA.

The subscriber's codec setting is not set (this is the default setting) and the subscriber's associated UM dial plan audio codec setting (UMDialPlan.AudioCodec) is set to WMA.

Scenario 2 If a Unified Messaging subscriber, whose associated UM dial plan (UMDialPlan.AudioCodec) property is set to WMA, logs on to Unified Messaging, locates someone in the directory, and leaves them a message.Play on Phone calls cannot be automatically forwarded when they are played on Office Communicator 2007In the original release version of Exchange 2007, the UM Play on Phone feature enables users to view a voice mail message in Outlook or Outlook Web Access and forward the message to a telephone number of their choice. When Exchange 2007 SP1 Beta 1 is used together with Office Communications Server 2007, Play on Phone calls cannot be forwarded beyond the Office Communicator 2007 client. This change in functionality is beneficial because it ensures that a voice message is not forwarded to anyone other than its intended recipient.Outlook Voice Access can be accessed from Office Communicator 2007 without requiring the user to enter a PINIf a user is logged on to Office Communicator 2007, the user can access Outlook Voice Access directly by pressing the Call voicemail button in Office Communicator 2007. Because the user is already authenticated to the server that is running Office Communications Server 2007, the user is not prompted to enter their Outlook Voice Access PIN.Office Communicator 2007 clients can associate subjects and priorities to voice messagesWhen Office Communicator 2007 clients make calls, they can associate a subject and priority with the call. When a call has been associated with a priority or a subject, the Unified Messaging server relays the subject and priority of the call in the e-mail messages it generates for missed call and voice mail notifications. Additionally, if a call is initiated from an e-mail message that the user is reading, Unified Messaging uses the original e-mail subject and priority when generating e-mail messages for the missed call and voice mail notifications.Support for media streams to traverse firewalls This feature enables Unified Messaging servers to communicate with end points outside an enterprise firewall. The A/V Authentication Service authenticates media traffic as it flows through the Communications Server 2007 Access Edge Server. In this scenario, the Unified Messaging server is associated with an Office Communications Server pool and obtains the appropriate authentication tokens from the Communications Server 2007 Access Edge Server computer that is serving that particular Office Communications Server pool.Integration of missed call notification e-mail messages with Office Communicator 2007In deployments that include the original release version of Exchange 2007 Unified Messaging and Office Communicator 2005 clients, call notifications are generated independently. For example, if a UM-enabled user who is using Office Communicator misses a call, two missed call notification messages are generated in the user's Inbox (one from Unified Messaging, and one from Office Communicator 2005). When Exchange 2007 SP1 Beta 1 is integrated with Office Communications Server 2007, subscribers using Office Communicator 2007 receive only one, unique missed call notification in their Inbox.

The following features are available in Exchange Server 2007 SP1 Beta 1 .. without integrating your Unified Messaging environment with Office Communications Server 2007 (Beta 3 Refresh).Secure Realtime Transport Protocol (SRTP) supportThis feature enables SRTP media traffic to flow to and from Exchange Unified Messaging. You can configure this feature by using the Exchange Management Shell or the Exchange Management Console. The secure SRTP configuration settings are located on the UM dial plan object.Exchange Management Console support for configuring Transport Layer Security (TLS)In Exchange Server 2007 SP1 Beta 1, the Exchange Management Console has been extended to enable you to manage TLS. The TLS configuration settings are located on the UM dial plan object.